by Matthew S. Bajko

Now that he is restarting his life in the Bay Area, Ronnie
Kayigoma is trying to assist other gay Ugandans who have fled anti-gay
discrimination in their home country and are in Kenya waiting for their asylum
applications to be processed.

In March, he launched a GoFundMe page with a goal of raising
$7,000 to pay for food, HIV medications, and other medical costs for LGBT HIV-positive
refugees and asylum seekers in the East African country. To date, his campaign
has netted $325.

"I look for other people to donate so people have food
and can take medication. You have to eat well to take those medicines. Some
people stop taking medicine because they can't eat the food you get in
Nairobi," said Kayigoma, who since June has sent $1,000 of his own money
to LGBT people he knows who are stuck in Nairobi, Kenya waiting to be relocated
to either Europe or the U.S.

Kayigoma, 30, fled Kampala, Uganda in November 2014 by bus
for the Kenyan capital in order to seek asylum. A gay activist and paralegal in
his home country, Kayigoma had come out publicly in 2009 fighting legislation dubbed
the "Kill the Gays" bill. After the country's president signed the
bill into law in February 2014, harassment of LGBT Ugandans increased.

At first he refused to flee and remained in Kampala to
assist LGBT people who were arrested. One day on his way to the police station,
Kayigoma was kidnapped. Held hostage for several days, he was able to escape
after having sex with one of his captors and immediately made arrangements to
leave Uganda.

"I said I can't wait for myself to die. I have to seek
asylum," said Kayigoma. "I was already sending people to Nairobi to
seek asylum."

Presenting himself as a tourist at the Kenyan border,
Kayigoma made his way to the Nairobi office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees to start the asylum process. As he waited for his application to
be granted, he found that Kenya was no haven, as he faced discrimination for
being both a foreigner and gay.

Unable to work, he struggled to make ends meet on the $45 he
received each month as an asylum seeker. With financial help from the Ireland-based
group Front Line Defenders, which assists human rights defenders across the
globe, Kayigoma was able to afford his own housing.

After 18 months in Kenya, Kayigoma was resettled to the Bay
Area in April 2016. Since the fall he has been living with a host family in
North Berkeley and is now in the process of applying for a green card.

"I have to be here, this is my country. My family
disowned me and my country doesn't love me," said Kayigoma, who in October
found work as a security guard in San Francisco, a job he works at five days a
week. "I want to become a U.S. citizen, maybe continue my education."

Remains connected

He has remained connected to LGBT asylum seekers in Kenya and
Uganda via social media, often fielding pleas for financial help. During an
interview with the Bay Area Reporter, seated at his host family's kitchen
table, Kayigoma scrolled through his cellphone showing the receipts and photos
he asks those he helps to send him to prove the money sent is being properly
spent.

One photo showed a gay Ugandan in a hospital bed, his Kenyan
doctor at his side, who had been attacked and needed minor surgery. Various
screen shots were of receipts for HIV medications. He also uses online payment
methods that allow him to better track where the money is spent.

"If you don't send me a receipt, I will not send the
money to you," said Kayigoma, who has been able to assist a dozen people
since last summer.

Francis Mutima, 26, who is gay and HIV-positive, has
received $120 from Kayigoma to help pay for his housing, food, and medical
bills. He knew Kayigoma in Uganda and is now in Nairobi waiting for his asylum
application to be approved. He is one of 200 LGBT asylum seekers he knows who
are currently in the city.

Talking to the B.A.R. via Facebook, Mutima explained
class=3oh-> "the reason is I was disowned by my parenting the community
wanted to do mob justice on me because of my sexuality."

He hopes people will donate to Kayigoma's fundraising
effort, as his friend "is transparent and he is willing
to help the helpless LGBTI asylum seekers."

A former chef in a Kampala hotel, Mutima
said he would like to find work so he can pay to attend school.

"Life is tough, we are arrested by the
police every day, because of no proper documentation and being reported to the
police by neighbors once they come to know we are gays," he wrote.

Sarah Imes Borden, a college theater instructor in Nebraska,
and her husband, who also teaches university-level theater classes, have also
been financially assisting LGBT Ugandan asylum seekers in Kenya. She was first
made aware of their situation while doing research for a book that included
interviews she conducted with those involved in the first gay play mounted in
Uganda.

Those contacts led her to strike up an online friendship
with Kayigoma while he was in Uganda. Borden helped him financially after he
fled to Kenya, and he has vetted others who asked for her support. She also
asks for receipts and photos of the person with the goods or medicines as a
show of proof, and starts out sending smaller dollar amounts.

"That is what it has been ever since; if someone
reaches out to us and says this person got beat up or is starving, we try to
find ways to help," said Borden, who graduated from Cal State Fullerton
with a master's in acting.

Referring to a line from a recent "Spiderman"
movie, in which the title character says he has an obligation to use his
abilities for good, Borden said she feels the same way when it comes to
assisting refugees. She is in the process of setting up a nonprofit called the Underground
Railroad of the 21st Century to formalize the assistance.

"If we can help in some way, and we don't, that is on
us. It is our responsibility," said Borden, who preferred not to disclose
the amount of money she and her husband have donated over the years.

As for Kayigoma launching the GoFundMe campaign, Borden said
it is the right way to go.

"It is going to be micro-lending and micro-giving that
keeps these people alive," said Borden, who has been unable to afford
visiting Kayigoma in person. "I do think Ronnie better understands now how
it is not easy to find a large chunk of money you can send to someone without
having to sacrifice things on this end."

For donors in the U.S. and elsewhere, even small amounts can
translate into significant assistance due to the exchange rate in Kenya, noted
Borden.

"You can take $15 here, which is not going to Starbucks
three days a week, and on the other end it turns into enough Kenyan shillings
to eat for a week," she said. "They can get enough rice, fruit, a dozen
eggs, and they will make that last a week."

The situation for the LGBT asylum seekers in Kenya has grown
more perilous under the Trump administration as its anti-immigration policies
have slowed resettlement efforts to a near stop. While Kayigoma knows of some
gay Ugandans who had been issued visas and were able to travel to the U.S. in
recent weeks, he said those still in Africa are losing hope.

"They are asking what to do. We are telling them to
just wait," he said. "For me about the Trump administration, I feel
sad. Being a refugee is not a choice. We are running from our country. Someone
is chasing you and they are just closing doors."

Borden also had harsh words about the president, as two men
in Kenya she has been helping who were expected to be resettled this summer in
the U.S. have now been waylaid and likely won't be able to leave for another
year.

"This system takes an incredibly long time," noted
Borden. "Anyone who says the vetting system is not thorough has no idea
what they are talking about."